PRESIDENT  JACKSON'S 

VETO  MESSAGE 

ON  THE 

Willi  aVAVaiS  W&MTSLi 


To  the  Senate  : 

The  bill  to  "  modify  and  continue"  the  act  entitled  "  an  act 
to  incorporate  the  subscribers  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States," 
was  presented  to  me  on  the  4th  inst.  Having  considered  it 
with  that  solemn  regard  to  the  principles  of  the  Constitution 
which  the  day  was  calculated  to  inspire,  and  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  ought  not  to  become  a  law,  I  herewith  return  it 
to  the  Senate,  in  which  it  originated,  with  my  objections. 

A  Bank  of  the  United  States  is,  in  many  respects,  conven- 
ient for  the  Government  and  useful  to  the  people.  Entertaining 
this  opinion,  and  deeply  impressed  with  the  belief  that  some  of 
the  powers  and  privileges  possessed  by  the  existing  Bank  are 
unauthorised  by  the  Constitution,  subversive  of  the  rights  of 
the  States,  and  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  tho  people,  I  felt 
it  my  duty,  at  an  early  period  of  my  administration,  to  call  the 
attention  of  Congress  to  the  practicability  of  organizing  an  in- 
stitution combining  all  its  advantages  and  obviating  these  ob- 
jections. I  sincerely  regret  that,  in  <he  act  before  me,  I  can 
perceive  none  of  those  modific^^s  of  the  Bank  charter  which 
are  necessary,  in  my  opinion,  to  make  it  compatible  with  jus- 
tice, with  sound  policy,  or  with  the  Constitution  of  our  country. 

The  present  corporate  body,  denominated  the  President,  Di- 
rectors and  Company  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  will 
have  existed,  at  the  time  this  act  is  intended  to  take  effect, 
twenty  years.  It  enjoys  an  exclusive  privilege  of  banking  un- 
der the  authority  of  the  General  Government,  a  monopoly  of  i(s 

A 


favor  and  support,  and,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  almost  a 
monopoly  of  the  foreign  and  domestic  exchange.  The  powers, 
privileges  and  favors  bestowed  upon  it,  in  the  original  charter, 
by  increasing  the  value  of  the  stock  far  above  its  par  value,  op- 
erated as  a  gratuity  of  many  millions  to  the  stockholders. 

An  apology  may  be  found  for  the  failure  to  guard  against  this 
result,  in  the  consideration  that  the  effect  of  the  original  act  of 
incorporation  could  not  be  certainly  foreseen  at  the  time  of  its 
passage.  The  act  before  me  proposes  another  gratuity  to  the 
same  stock,  and,  in  many  cases,  to  the  same  men  of  at  least 
seven  millions  more.  This  donation  finds  no  apology  in  any 
uncertainty  as  to  the  effect  of  the  act.  On  all  hands  it  is  conce- 
ded that  its  passage  will  increase  at  least  twenty  or  thirty  per 
cent,  more,  the  market  price  ol  its  stock,  subject  to  the  payment 
of  an  annuity  of  $200,000  per  year,  secured  by  the  act ;  thus 
adding,  in  a  moment,  one-fourth  to  its  par  value.  It  is  not  our 
own  citizens  only  who  are  to  receive  the  bounty  of  our  own 
government.  More  than  eight  millions  of  the  stock  of  this 
Bank  are  held  by  foreigners.  By  this  act,  the  American  Re- 
public proposes  virtually  to  make  them  a  present  of  some  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  For  these  gratuities  to  foreigners,  and  to  some 
of  our  own  opulent  citizens,  the  act  secures  no  equivalent  what- 
ever. They  are  the  certain  gains  of  the  present  stockholders 
under  the  operation  of  this  act,  after  making  full  allowance  for 
the  payment  of  the  bonus. 

Every  monopoly,  and  all  exclusive  privileges,  are  granted 
at  the  expense  of  the  public,  which  ought  to  receive  a  fair  equiv- 
alent. The  many  millions  which  this  act  proposes  to  bestow 
on  the  stockholders  of  the  existing  Bank,  must  come  directly  or 
indirectly  out  of  the  earning  of  the  American  people.  It  is 
due  to  them,  therefore,  if  their  Government  sell  monopolies  and 
exclusive  privileges,  that  they  should  at  least  exact  for  them  as 
much  as  they  are  worth  in  open  market.  The  value  ol  the  mo- 
nopoly in  this  case  may  be  correctly  ascertained.  The  twenty- 
eight  millions  of  stock  would  probably  be  at  an  advance  of 
fifty  per  cent,  and  command  in  market  at  least  forty-two  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  iubject  to  the  payment  of  the  present  bonus. 
The  present  value  of  the  monopoly,  therefore,  ia  seventeen  mil- 


'.Duksr. 


ON  THE  V.  f .  BANK. 


5 


lions  of  dollars,  and  this  act  proposes  to  sell  it  for  three  millions, 
payable  in  fifteen  annual  instalments  of  $200,000  each. 

It  is  not  conceiveable  how  the  present  stockholders  can  hare 
any  claim  to  to  the  special  favour  of  the  Government.  The 
present  corporation  has  enjoyed  its  monopoly  during  the  period 
stipulated  in  the  original  contract.  If  we  must  have  such  a  cor- 
poration, why  should  not  the  Government  sell  out  the  whole 
stock,  and  thus  secure  to  the  people  the  full  market  value  of  the 
privileges  granted?  Why  should  not  Congress  create  and  sell 
twenty-eight  millions  of  stock,  incorporating  the  purchasers 
with  all  the  powers  and  privileges  secured  in  this  act,  and  put- 
ting the  premium  upon  the  sales  into  the  Treasury  ? 

But  this  act  does  not  permit  competition,  in  the  purchase  of 
this  monopoly.  It  seems  to  be  predicated  on  the  erroneous  idea, 
that  the  present  stockholders  have  a  prescriptive  right,  not  only 
to  the  favor  but  the  bounty  of  Government.  It  appears  that 
more  than  a  fourth  part  of  the  stock  is  held  by  foreigners,  and 
the  residue  is  held  b^  a  few  hundred  of  our  own  citizens,  chief- 
ly of  the  richest  class  :  for  their  benefit  does  this  act  exclude  the 
whole  American  people  from  competition  in  the  purchase  of  this 
monopoly,  and  disposes  of  it  for  many  millions  less  than  it 
worth.  This  seems  the  less  excusable  because  some  of  our  cit- 
izens, not  now  stockholders,  petitioned  that  the  door  of  compe- 
tition might  be  opened,  and  offered  to  take  a  charter  on  terms 
much  more  favorable  to  the  Government  and  country. 

But  this  proposition,  although  made  by  men  whose  aggregate 
wealth  is  believed  to  be  equal  to  all  the  private  stock  in  the  ex- 
isting Bank,  has  been  set  aside,  and  the  bounty  of  our  govern- 
ment is  proposed  to  be  again  bestowed  on  the  few  who  have  been 
fortunate  enough  to  secure  the  stock,  and,  at  this  moment,  wield 
the  power  of  the  existing  institution.  I  cannot  perceive  the 
justice  or  policy  of  this  course.  If  our  Government  must  sell 
monopolies,  it  would  seem  to  be  its  duty  to  take  nothing  less 
than  their  full  value  ;  and  if  gratuities  must  be  made  once  in  fif- 
teen or  twenty  years,  let  them  not  be  bestowed  on  the  subjects 
of  a  foreign  government,  nor  upon  a  designated  and  favored  class 
of  men  in  our  own  country.  It  is  but  justice  and  good  policy, 
so  far  as  the  nature  of  the  case  admits,  to  confine  our  favors  to 


4  VETO  MESSAGE 

our  fellow-citizens,  and  let  each  in  his  turn  enjoy  an  opportu 
nity  to  profit  by  our  bounty.    In  the  bearings  of  the  acts  before 
me  upon  these  points,  I  find  ample  reasons  why  it  should  not  be- 
come a  law. 

It  has  been  urged  as  an  argument  in  favor  of  re-chartering  the 
present  Bank,  that  the  calling  in  its  loans  will  produce  great 
embarrassment  and  distress.  The  time  allowed  to  close  i(s 
concerns,  is  ample,  and  if  it  has  been  well  managed,  its  pres- 
sure will  be  light,  and  heavy  only  in  case  its  management  has 
been  bad. — If,  therefore,  it  shall  produce  distress,  the  fault  will 
be  its  own,  and  it  should  furnish  a  reason  against  renewing  a 
power  which  had  been  so  obviously  abused.  But,  wTill  there 
ever  be  a  time  when  this  reason  will  be  less  powerful  ?  To  ac- 
knowledge its  force,  is  to  admit  that  the  Bank  ought  to  be  per- 
petual, and  as  a  consequence,  the  present  stockholders,  and  those 
inheriting  their  rights,  as  successors,  be  established  a  privileged 
order,  clothed  both  with  great  political  power,  and  enjoying  im- 
mense pecuniary  advantages  from  their  connection  with  the  gov- 
ernment. 

The  modifications  of  the  existing  charter,  proposed  by  this 
act,  are  not  such,  in  my  view,  as  make  it  consistent  with  the 
rights  of  the  State  or  the  liberties  of  the  people.  The  qualifica- 
tion of  the  right  of  the  Bank  to  hold  real  estate,  the  limitation 
of  its  power  to  establish  branches,  and  the  power  reserved  to 
Congress  to  forbid  the  circulation  of  small  notes,  are  restrictions 
comparatively  of  little  value  or  importance.  All  the  objection- 
able principles  of  the  existing  corporation,  and  most  of  its  odi- 
ous features,  are  retained  without  alleviation. 

The  fourth  section  provides  «  that  the  notes  or  bills  of  the 
said  corporation,  although  the  same  be  on  the  faces  thereof,  re- 
spectively made  payable  at  one  place  only,  shall,  nevertheless, 
be  received  by  the  said  corporation  at  the  Bank,  or  at  any  of  the 
offices  of  discount  and  deposit  thereof,  if  tendered  in  liquida 
tion  or  payment  of  any  balance  or  balances,  due  to  said  corpo- 
ration or  to  such  office  of  discount  and  deposit  from  any  other 
incorporated  Bank."  This  provision  secures  to  the  State  Banks 
a  legal  privilege  in  the  Bank  of  the  U.  States,  which  is  with- 
held from  all  private  citizens.    If  a  State  Bank  in  Philadelphiaj 


ON  THE  U.  S.  BANK. 


5 


owe  the  Bank  of  the  U.  States  and  have  notes  issued  by  the  St. 
Louis  Branch,  it  can  pay  the  debt  with  those  notes  ;  but  if  a 
merchant,  mechanic,  or  other  private  citizen  he  in  like  circum- 
stances, he  cannot  by  law  pay  his  debt  with  those  notes,  but 
must  sell  them  at  a  discount,  or  send  them  to  St.  Louis  to  be 
cashed.  This  boon,  conceded  to  the  State  Banks,  tho'  not  un- 
just in  itself,  is  most  odious,  because  it  does  not  measure  out 
equal  justice  to  the  high  and  the  low,  the  rich  and  the  poor. 

To  the  extent  of  its  practical  effect,  it  is  a  bond  of  union 
among  the  banking  establishments  of  the  nation  erecting  them 
into  an  interest,  separate  from  that  of  the  people,  and  its  neces- 
sary tendency  is  to  unite  the  Bank  of  the  U.  S.  and  the  State 
Banks  in  any  measure  which  may  be  thought  conducive  to  their 
common  interest. 

Tho  ninth  section  of  the  act  recognizes  principles  of  worse 
tendency  than  any  provision  of  the  present  charter. 

It  enacts  that"  the  Cashier  of  the  Bank  shall  annually  report 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  the  names  of  all  stockholders 
who  are  not  resident  citizens  of  the  CJ.  States,  and  on  the  appli- 
cation of  the  Treasurer  of  any  State,  shall  make  out  and  trans- 
mit to  such  Treasurer  a  list  of  stockholders  residing  in,  or  citi- 
zens of  such  State,  with  the  amount  of  stock  owned  by  each." 
Although  this  provision,  taken  in  connection  with  a  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  surrenders  by  its  silence,  the  right  of  the 
States  to  tax  the  banking  institutions  created  by  this  corporation 
under  the  name  of  branches,  throughout  the  Union, — it  is  evi- 
idently  intended  to  be  construed  as  a  concession  of  their  right  to 
tax  that  portion  of  the  stock  which  may  be  held  by  their  own 
citizens  and  residents.    In  this  light,  if  the  act  becomes  a  law, 
it  will  be  understood  by  the  states,  who  will  probably  proceed 
to  levy  a  tax  equal  to  that  paid  upon  the  slock  of  the  banks  in- 
corporated by  themselves.    In  some  States  that  tax  is  now  one 
per  cent,  either  on  the  capital  or  on  the  shares,  and  that  may  be 
assumed  as  the  amount  which  all  citizens  or  resident  stockhold- 
ers will  be  taxed  under  the  operation  of  this  act.    As  it  is  only 
the  stock  held  in  the  States,  and  not  that  employed  within  them, 
which  would  be  subject  to  taxation  ;  and  as  the  names  of  for- 
eign stockholders  are  not  to  be  reported  to  Treasurers  of  the 


e 


VETO  MESSAGE 


States,  it  is  obvious  that  the  stock  held  by  them  will  be  exempt 
from  this  burden.  Their  annual  profits,  will,  therefore,  be  one 
per  cent,  more  than  the  citizen  stockholders,  and  as  the  annual 
dividends  of  the  Bank  may  be  safely  estimated  at  7  per  cent., 
the  stock  will  be  worth  10  or  15  per  cent,  more  to  foreigners 
than  to  citizens  of  the  U.  S.  To  appreciate  the  effects  which 
this  state  of  things  will  produce,  we  must  take  a  brief  review  of 
the  operations  and  present  condition  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States. 

By  documents  submitted  to  Congress  at  the  present  session,  it 
appears  that  on  the  first  of  Jan.  1832,  of  the  28  millions  of  the 
private  stock  in  the  corporation,  $8,405,500  were  held  by  for- 
eigners, mostly  of  Great  Britain.  The  amount  of  stock  held  in 
the  9  Western  and  Southwestern  States,  is  $140,200:  and  in 
the  four  Southern  States,  is  $5,623,100  ;  and  in  the  Middle  and 
Eastern  States  is  about  $13,522,000. — The  profits  of  the  Bank 
in  1831,  as  shown  in  a  statement  to  Congress  were  about  $3,- 
455,598  ;  of  this  there  accrued  in  the  9  Western  Slates  about 
$1,640,048;  in  the  4  Southern  States  about  $352,507,  and  in 
the  Middle  and  Eastern  States  about  $1,463,041.  As  little 
stock  is  held  in  the  west,  it  is  obvious  that  the  debt  of  the  peo- 
ple in  that  section  to  the  Bank,  is  principally  a  debt  to  the  eas- 
tern and  foreign  stockholders ;  that  the  interest  they  pay  upon 
it,  is  carried  into  the  eastern  Slates  and  into  Europe,  and  that  it 
is  a  burden  upon  their  industry,  and  a  drain  of  their  currency, 
which  no  country  can  bear  without  inconvenience  and  occasion- 
al distress.  To  meet  this  burden  and  equalize  the  exchange 
operations  of  the  Bank,  the  amount  of  specie  drawn  from  those 
States  through  its  branches  within  the  last  two  years,  as  shown 
by  its  official  reports,  was  about  $6,000,000.  More  than  half 
a  million  of  this  amount  does  not  stop  in  the  eastern  States,  but 
passes  on  to  Europe  to  pay  the  dividends  of  the  foreign  stock- 
holders. In  the  principle  of  taxation  recognized  by  this  act,  the 
western  States  find  no  adequate  compensation  for  the  perpetual 
burden  on  their  industry,  and  drain  of  their  currency. 

The  branch  bank  at  Mobile  made,  last  year,  $95,140;  yet, 
under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  the  State  of  Alabama  can  raise 
no  revenue  from  these  profitable  operations,  because  not  a  share 


ON  THE  U.  S.  HANK. 


7 


of  the  stock  is  held  by  any  of  her  citizens.  Mississippi  and 
Missouri  are  in  the  same  condition  in  relation  to  the  branches  at 
Natchez  and  St.  Louis;  and  such,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
is  the  condition  of  every  western  State. 

The  tendency  of  the  plan  of  taxation  which  this  act  proposes, 
will  be  to  place  the  whole  United  States  in  the  same  relation  to 
foreign  countries,  which  the  western  States  now  bear  to  the  eas- 
tern. When  by  a  tax  on  resident  stockholders  the  stock  of  this 
bank  is  made  worth  10  or  15  per  cent,  more  to  foreigners  than 
to  residents,  most  of  it  will  inevitably  leave  the  country. 

Thus  will  this  provision,  in  its  practical  effect,  deprive  the 
eastern,  as  well  as  the  Southern  and  Western  States,  of  the 
means  of  raising  a  revenue  from  the  extension  of  business,  and 
great  profits  of  this  institution.  It  will  make  the  American  peo- 
ple debtors  to  aliens  in  nearly  the  whole  amount  due  to  this 
bank,  and  send  across  the  Atlantic  from  two  to  five  millions  of 
specie  every  year  to  pay  the  bank  dividends. 

In  another  of  its  bearings  this  provision  is  fraught  with  dan- 
ger. Of  the  25  directors  of  this  bank,  five  are  chosen  by  the 
Government,  and  20  by  the  citizen  stockholders.  From  all 
voice  in  these  elections,  the  foreign  stockholders  are  excluded 
by  the  charter.  In  proportion  therefore,  as  the  stock  is  trans- 
ferred to  foreign  holders,  the  extent  of  suffrage  in  the  choice  of 
directors  is  curtailed.  Already  is  almost  a  third  of  the  stock  in 
foreign  hands,  and  not  represented  in  elections.  It  is  constantly 
passing  out  of  the  country,  and  this  act  will  accelerate  its  de- 
parture. The  entire  control  of  the  institution  would  necessari- 
ly fall  into  the  hands  of  the  few  citizen  stockholders,  and  the 
ease  with  which  the  object  would  be  accomplished,  would  be  a 
temptation  to  designing  men  to  secure  that  control  in  their  own 
hands  by  monopolizing  the  remaining  stock. — There  is  danger 
that  a  President  and  Directors  would  then  be  able  to  elect  them- 
selves from  year  to  year,  and  without  responsibility  or  control, 
manage  the  whole  concerns  of  the  Bank  during  the  existence  of 
its  charter.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  that  great  evils  to  our  coun- 
try and  its  institutions  might  flow  from  such  a  concentration  of 
power  in  the  hands  of  a  few  men  irresponsible  to  the  people. 

Is  there  no  danger  to  our  liberty  and  independence,  in  a  Bank 


6 


VETO  MESSAGE 


that  in  its  nature  has  so  little  to  hind  it  to  our  country  ?  The 
President  of  the  Bank  has  told  us,  that  most  of  the  State  Banks 
exist  by  its  forbearance.  Should  its  influence  become  concen- 
trated, as  it  may,  under  the  operation  of  such  an  act  as  this  in 
the  hands  of  a  self  elected  Directory,  whose  interests  are  identi- 
fied with  those  of  the  foreign  stockholder,  will  there  not  be 
cause  to  tremble  for  the  purity  of  our  elections  in  peace  and  for 
the  indedenpence  of  our  country  in  war  ?  Their  power  would 
be  great  whenever  they  might  choose  to  exert  it ;  but  if  this 
monopoly  were  renewed  every  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  on  terms 
proposed  by  themselves,  they  might  seldom,  in  peace,  put  forth 
their  strength  to  influence  elections  or  control  the  affairs  of  the 
nation.  But,  if  any  private  citizen  or  public  functionary  should 
interpose  to  curtail  its  powers  or  prevent  a  renewal  of  its  priv- 
ileges, it  cannot  be  doubted  that  he  would  be  made  to  feel  its  in- 
fluence. 

Should  the  stock  of  the  bank  principally  pass  into  the  hands  of 
the  subjects  of  a  foreign  country,  and  we  should  unfortunately 
become  involved  in  a  war  with  that  country,  what  would  be 
our  condition  ?  Of  the  course  which  would  be  pursued  by  a 
Bank  almost  wholly  owned  by  the  subjects  of  a  foreign  power, 
and  managed  by  those  whose  interests,  if  not  affections,  would 
run  in  the  same  direction,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  All  its  ope- 
rations within,  would  be  in  aid  of  the  hostile  fleets  and  armies 
without ;  controlling  our  currency ;  receiving  our  public  mon- 
ies, and  holding  thousands  of  our  citizens  in  dependence,  it 
would  be  more  formidable  and  dangerous  than  the  naval  and 
military  power  of  the  enemy. 

If  we  must  have  a  bank  with  private  stockholders,  every  con- 
sideration of  sound  policy,  and  every  impulse  of  American  feel- 
ing, admonishes  that  it  should  he  purely  American.  Its  stock- 
holders should  be  composed  exclusively  of  our  ,  own  citizens, 
who,  at  least,  ought  to  be  friendly  to  our  government,  and  wil- 
ling to  support  it  in  times  of  difficulty  and  danger.  So  abundant 
is  domestic  capital,  that  competition,  in  subscribing  for  the  stock 
of  local  banks,  has  recently  led  almost  to  riots.  To  a  bank,  ex- 
clusively of  American  Stockholders,  possessing  the  powers  and 
privileges  granted  by  this  act,  subscriptions  for  two  hundred 


t>N  THE  U.  S.  BANK- 


ft 


millions  of  dollars,  could  be  readily  obtained.  Instead  of  send- 
ing abroad  the  stock  of  the  bank,  in  wkicfa  the  government  must 
deposit  its  funds,  and  on  which  it  must  rely  to  sustain  its  credit 
in  times  of  emergency,  it  would  rather  seem  to  be  expedient  to 
prohibit  its  sale  to  aliens  under  penalty  of  absolute  forfeiture. 

It  is  maintained  by  the  advocates  of  the  bank  that  its  constitu- 
tionality to  all  its  features  ought  to  be  considered  as  settled  by 
precedent,  and  by  the  decision  of  the  supreme  court.  To  this 
conclusion  I  cannot  assent.  Mere  precedent  is  a  dangerous 
source  of  authority,  and  should  not  be  regarded  as  deciding  ques- 
tions of  constitutional  power,  except  where  the  acquiescence  of 
the  people  and  the  states  can  be  considered  as  well  settled.  So 
fur  from  this  being  the  case  on  this  subject,  an  argument  against 
the  bank  might  be  based  on  precedent.  One  Congress  in  1791 
decided  in  favor  of  a  bank  ;  another  in  1811  decided  against  it. 
One  Congress  in  1815,  decided  against  a  Bank,  another  in  1816 
decided. in  its  favor.  Prior  to  the  present  session,  therefore,  the 
precedents  drawn  from  that  source  were  equal.  If  we  resort  to 
the  States,  the  expressions  of  Legislative,  Judicial  and  Exec- 
utive opinions  against  the  bank,  have  been  probably  to  those  in 
its  favor,  as  four  to  one.  There  is  nothing  in  precedent,  there- 
fore, which,  if  its  authority  were  admitted,  ought  to  weigh  in 
favor  of  the  fact  before  me. 

If  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  covered  the  whole 
ground  of  this  act ;  it  ought  not  to  control  the  co-ordinate  au- 
thorities of  this  government.  The  congress,  the  Executive  and 
the  Court,  must  each  for  itself,  be  guided  by  his  own  opinion  of 
the  Constitution.  Each  public  officer  who  takes  an  oath  to  sup- 
port the  Constitution  swears  he  will  support  it  as  he  understands 
it,  and  not  as  it  is  understood  by  others.  It  is  as  much  the  duty 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  of  the  Senate  and  of  the 
President  to  decide  upon  the  Constitutionality  of  any  bill  or 
resolution  which  may  be  presented  to  them  for  passage  or  ap- 
proval, as  it  is  of  the  Supreme  Judges  when  it  may  be  brought 
before  them  for  judicial  decision.  The  opinion  of  the  judges 
has  no  more  authority  over  congress  than  the  opinion  of  con- 
gress has  over  the  judges,  and  on  that  point  the  President  is  in- 
dependent of  both.   The  authority  of  the  supreme  court  must 


10 


VETO  MESSAGE 


not,  therefore,  be  permitted  to  control  the  congress  or  the  ex- 
ecutive, when  acting  in  their  legislative  capacities,  hut  to  have 
only  such  influence  as  the  force  of  their  reasonings  may  deserve. 

But  in  the  case  relied  upon,  the  supreme  court  have-not  de- 
cided that  all  the  features  of  this  corporation  are  compatible 
with  the  constitution.  It  is  true  that  the  court  have  said  that  the 
law  incorporating  the  Bank  is  a  constitutional  exercise  of  pow- 
er by  congress.  But,  taking  into  view  the  whole  opinion  of  the 
court,  and  the  reasoning  by  which  they  have  come  to  that  con- 
clusion, I  understand  them  to  have  decided  that,  inasmuch  as  a 
bank  is  an  appropriate  means  for  carrying  into  effect  the  enu- 
merated powers  of  the  general  Government,  therefore,  the  law 
incorporating  ifis  in  accordance  with  that  provision  of  the  con- 
stitution which  declares  that  congress  shall  have  power  "  to 
make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying 
those  powers  into  execution."  Having  satisfied  themselves  that 
the  word/  necessary"  in  the  Constitution,  means  "  needful," 
«  requisite,"  "  essential,"  "  conducive  to,"  andthat  "  a  Bank" 
is  a  convenient,  a  useful  and  essential  instrument  in  the  prose- 
cution of  the  Government's  "  fiscal  operations,"  they  conclude, 
that  to  "use  one  must  be  within  the  discretion  of  congress," 
and  that  " the  act  to  incorporate  the  Bank  of  the  U.  S.  is  a  law 
made  in  pursuance  of  the  Constitution :"  "but,"  say  they, 
"where  the  law  is  not  prohibited  and  is  really  calculated  to 
effect  any  of  the  objects  entrusted  to  the  government,  to  un- 
dertake here  to  enquire  into  the  degree  oj  its  necessity,  would 
be  to  pass  the  line  which  circumscribes  the  Judicial  Depart- 
ment and  to  trample  on  Legislative  ground." 

The  principle  here  affirmed  is  that  «  the  degree  of  its  neces- 
sity "  involving  all  the  details  of  a  banking  institution,  is  a 
question  exclusively  for  legislative  consideration.  A  Bank  is 
constitutional;  but  it  is  the  province  of  the  Legislature  to  de- 
termine whether  this  or  that  particular  power,  privilege  or  ex- 
Pmption,  is  «  necessary  and  proper"  to  enable  the  bank  to  dis- 
charge its  duties  to  the  government,  and  from  their  decision 
there  is  no  appeal  to  the  courts  of  justice.  Under  the  decision 
of  the  Supreme  Court  therefore  it  is  the  exclusive  province  of 
congress  and  the  President  to  decide,  whether  the  particular 


02f  THE  U.  S.  BANX. 


features  of  this  act  are  "  necessary  and  proper,"  in  order  to  cna- 
blo  the  Bank  to  perform  conveniently  and  efficiently  the  public 
duties  assigned  to  it  as  a  fiscal  agent,  and  therefore  constitution- 
al, or  u nn ccessary  and  impropcr^nd  therefore  unconstitutional. 

Without  commenting  on  the  general  principle  affirmed  by  tho 
Supreme  Court,  let  us  examine  the  details  of  this  act  in  accor- 
dance with  the  rule  of  legislative  action  which  they  have  laid 
down.  It  will  be  found  that  many  of  the  powers  and  privileges 
conferred  on  it  cannot  be  supposed  necessary  for  the  purpose  for 
which  it  is  proposed  to  be  created,  and  are  not  therefore  means 
necessary  to  attain  the  end  in  view,  and  consequently  not  justi- 
lied  by  the  constitution. 

The  original  act  of  corporation,  section  21,  enacts  c:  that  no 
other  bank  shall  be  established  by  any  future  law  of  the  United 
States  during  the  continuance  of  the  corporation  hereby  created, 
for  which  the  faith  of  the  United  States  is  hereby  pledged,  Pro- 
vided, congress  may  renew  the  existing  charter  for  Banks 
within  the  District  of  Columbia,  not  increasing  the  capital  ther- 
of,  and  may  also  establish  any  other  bank  or  banks  in  said  Dis- 
trict, with  capitals  not  exceeding  in  the  whole  six  millions  of 
dollars,  if  they  shall  deem  it  expedient."  This  provision  is 
continued  in  force  by  the  act  before  me,  fifteen  years  from  the 
3d  of  March,  1S3G.* 

If  congress  possessed  the  power  to  establish  one  Bank,  they 
had  power  to  establish  more  than  one,  if  in  their  opinion,  two  or 
more  banks  had  been  "  necessary"  to  facilitate  the  execution  of 
the  powers  delegated  to  them  in  the  constitution.    If  they  pos- 
sessed the  power  to  establish  a  second  bank,  it  was  a  power  de- 
rived from  the  constitution,  to  be  exercised  from  time  to  time, 
and  at  any  time  when  the  interests  of  the  country  or  the  emer- 
gencies of  the  government  make  it  expedient.    It  was  posses- 
sed by  one  congress  as  well  as  another,  and  by  all  Congresses 
alike  and  alike  at  every  session.    But  the  congress  of  IS  16  has 
taken  it  away  from  from  their  successors  for  20  years,  and  the 
Congress  of  1S32  proposes  to  abolish  it  for  15  years  more.  It 
cannot  be  "  necessary"  or  "proper"  for  a  congress  to  barter 
away  or  divest  themselves  of  any  of  the  powers  vested  in  them 
by  the  constitution,  to  be  exercised  for  tho  public  pood.    It  is 


n 


VETO  MESSAGE 


not  u  necessary"  to  the  efficiency  of  the  bank,  nor  is  it  "  prop- 
er" in  relation  to  themselves  and  their  successors.  They  may 
properly  use  the  discretion  vested  in  them ;  but  they  may  not 
limit  the  discretion  of  their  successors.  This  restriction  on 
themselves  and  grant  of  monopoly  to  the  bank  is  therefore  uncon- 
stitutional. 

In  another  point  of  view,  this  provision  is  a  palpable  attempt 
to  amend  the  constitution  by  an  act  of  legislation.  The  consti- 
tution declares  that  the  "  Congress  shall  have  power  to  exercise 
exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever"  over  the  District 
of  Columbia.  Its  constitutional  power,  therefore,  to  establish 
banks  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  increase  their  capital  at 
will,  is  unlimited  and  uncontrollable  by  any  other  power  than 
that  which  gave  authority  to  the  constitution.  Yet  this  act  de- 
clares that  congress  shall  not  increase  the  capital  of  existing 
banks,  nor  create  other  banks,  with  capitals  exceeding  in  the 
whole  six  millions  of  dollars.  The  constitution  declares,  that 
Congress  shall  have  power  to  exercise  exclusive  legislation 
over  this  district,  M  in  all  cases  whatsoever  ;  and  this  act  de^ 
clares  that  they  shall  not.  Which  is  the  supremest  law  of  the 
land?  This  provision  cannot  be  "necessary3'  or  "proper,"  or 
constitutional  unless  the  absurdity  be  admitted,  that  whenever 
it  be  "  necessary  and  proper,"  in  the  opinion  of  congress,  they 
have  a  right  to  barter  away  one  portion  of  the  powers  vested  in 
them  by  the  constitution  as  a  means  of  executing  the  rest. 

On  two  subjects  only  does  the  constitution  recognize  in  con- 
gress the  power  to  grant  exclusive  privileges  or  monopolies.  It 
declares  that  "  Congress  shall  have  power  to  promote  the  pro- 
gress of  science  and  the  useful  arts,  by  securing,  for  limited 
times,  to  authors  and  inventors,  the  exclusive  right  to  their  re- 
spective writings  and  discoveries."  Out  of  this  express  dele- 
gation of  power,  have  grown  our  laws  of  patents  and  copy- 
rights. As  the  constitution  expressly  delegates  to  congress  the 
power  to  grant  exclusive  privileges  in  these  cases  as  the  means 
of  execuiing  the  substantive  power  "  to  promote  the  progress 
of  science  and  useful  arts,"  it  is  consistent  with  the  fair  rules 
of  construction  to  conclude  that  such  a  power  was  not  intended 
to  be  granted  as  a  means  of  accomplishing  any  other  cnd=  On 


OH  THE  U.  a.  BANK. 


13 


every  other  subject  which  comes  within  the  scope  of  congres- 
sional power,  there  is  an  ever  living  discretion  in  the  use  of 
proper  means  which  cannot  be  restricted  or  abolished  without  an 
amendment  of  the  constitution.  Every  act  of  congress,  there- 
fore, which  attempts  by  grants  of  monopolies,  or  sale  of  exclu- 
sive privileges  for  a  limited  time,  or  a  time  without  limit,  to  re- 
strict or  extinguish  its  own  discretion  in  the  choice  of  means  to 
execute  its  delegated  powers ;  is  equivalent  to  a  legitimate 
amendment  of  the  constitution,  and  palpably  unconstitutional. 

This  act  authorises  and  encourages  transfers  of  its  stock  to 
foreigners,  and  grants  them  an  exemption  from  all  state  and 
national  taxation.  So  far  from  being  u  necessary  and  proper" 
that  the  bank  should  possess  this  power  to  make  it  a  safe  and  ef- 
ficient agent  of  the  government  in  its  fiscal  operations,  it  is  cal- 
culated to  convert  the  Bank  of  the  U.  S.  into  a  foreign  bank,  to 
impoverish  our  people  in  time  of  peace,  to  disseminate  a  foreign 
influence  through  every  section  of  the  republic — and  in  war  to 
endanger  our  independence. 

The  several  States  reserved  the  power  at  the  formation  of  the 
constitution,  to  regulate  and  control  titles  snd  transfers  of  real 
property,  and  most,  if  not  all  of  them,  have  laws  disqualifying 
aliens  from  acquiring  or  holding  lands  within  their  limits.  But 
this  act,  in  disregard  of  the  undoubted  right  of  the  states  to 
prescribe  such  disqualifications,  gives  to  aliens,  stockholders  in 
this  bank,  an  interest  and  title,  as  members  of  the  corporation, 
to  all  the  real  property  it  may  acquire  within  any  of  the  States 
of  the  Union.  This  privilege  granted  to  aliens  is  not  "neces- 
sary to  enable  the  Bank  to  perform  its  public  duties,  nor  in 
any  sense  "proper"  because  it  is  vitally  subversive  of  the 
rights  of  the  States. 

The  government  of  the  U.  S.  has  no  constitutional  power 
to  purchase  lands  within  the  States,  except  "  for  the  erection  of 
forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dock-yards,  and  other  needful  build- 
ings," and  even  for  these  objects  only  u  by  consent  of  the  legis- 
lature of  the  state  in  which  the  same  shall  be."  By  making 
themselves  stockholders  in  the  bank,  and  granting  to  the  corpo- 
ration the  power  to  purchase  lands  for  other  purposes,  they  as- 
sume a  power  not  granted  in  the  constitution,  and  grant  to  oth- 


14 


VETO  MESSAGE 


ers  what  they  do  not  themselves  possess.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  the  receiving,  safe  keeping,  or  transmission  of  the  funds  of 
the  government,  that  the  hank  should  possess  the  power,  and  it 
is  not  proper  that  Congress  should  thus  enlarge  the  powers  del- 
egated to  them  in  the  constitution. 

The  old  Bank  of  the  U.  S.  possessed  a  capital  of  only  eleven 
million  of  dollars,  which  was  found  iuliy  sufficient  to  enable  it 
with  despatch  a#d  safety,  to  perform  all  the  functions  required  of 
it  by  the  government. — The  capital  of  the  present  Bank  is  thir- 
ty-five millions  of  dollars — at  least  twenty-four  more  than  ex- 
perience has  proved  to  be  necessary  to  enable  the  bank  to  per- 
form its  public  functions.  The  public  debt  which  existed  du- 
ring the  period  of  the  old  Bank,  and  on  the  establishment  of  the 
new,  has  been  nearly  paid  off,  and  our  revenue  will  soon  be  re- 
duced. The  increase  of  capital  is,  therefore,  not  for  public  but 
for  private  purposes. 

The  government  is  the  only  "proper"  judge  where  its  agents 
should  reside  and  keep  their  offices  because  it  best  knows  where 
there  presence  will  be  "necessary."  It  cannot,  therefore,  bo 
"  necessary"  or  " proper"  to  authorize  the  Bank  to  locate 
branches  where  it  pleases,  to  perform  the  public  service,  with- 
out consulting  the  government,  and  contrary  to  its  will.  The 
principle  laid  down  by  the  Supreme  Court  concedes,  that  Con- 
gress cannot  establish  a  bank  for  purposes  of  private  specula- 
tion and  gain,  but  only  as  a  means  of  executing  the  delegated 
powers  of  the  general  government.  By  the  same  principle,  a 
branch  bank  cannot  constitutionally  be  established  for  other 
public  purposes.  The  power  which  this  act  gives  to  establish 
two  branches  in  any  state  without  the  injunction  or  request  of 
government,  and  for  other  than  public  purposes,  is  not  u  neces- 
sary" to  the  due  execution  of  the  powers  delegated  to  Con- 
gress. 

The  bonus  which  is  exacted  from  the  Bank  is  a  confession  up- 
on the  face  of  the  act  that  the  powers  granted  by  it  are  greater 
than  are  "necessary  "  to  its  character  of  a  fiscal  agent.  The 
government  does  not  tax  its  officers  and  agents  for  the  privilege 
of  serving  it.  The  bonus  of  a  million  and  a  half,  required  by 
the  original  charter,  and  that  of  three  millions  proposed  by  this 


M  THE  U.  S.  BANK. 


act,  are  not  exacted  for  the  privilege  of  giving  "  the  necessary 
facilities  for  transfenng  the  public  funds  from  place  to  place 
within  the  U,  S.  or  the  teritory  thereof,  and  for  distributing  the 
same  in  payment  of  public  creditors,  without  charging  commis- 
sion or  claiming  al'owance  on  account  of  the  difference  of  ex- 
change," as  required  by  the  act  of  corporation,  but  for  some- 
thing more  beneficial  to  the  stockholders.  The  original  act  de- 
clares, that  it  ((he  bonus)  is  granted  "  in  consideration  of  the 
exclusive  privileges  and  benefits  conferred  by  this  act  upon  the 
said  Bank,"  and  the  act  before  .me  declares  it  to  be  14  in  consid- 
eration of  the  exclusive  benefits  and  privileges  continued  by 
this  act  to  the  said  corporation  for  fifteen  years  aforesaid."  It  is 
therefore,  for  u  exclusive  privileges  and  benefits,"  conferred  for 
their  own  use  and  emolument,  and  not  for  the  advantage  of  the 
government,  that  a  bonus  is  exacted. — These  surplus  powers, 
for  which  the  Bank  is  required  to  pay,  cannot  surely  be  u  ne- 
cessary," to  make  it  the  fiscal  pgent  of  the  Treasury.  If  they 
were,  the  exaction  of  a  bonus  for  them  would  not  be  "proper" 
It  is  maintained  by  some  that  the  bank  is  a  means  of  execu- 
ting the  constitutional  power  "  to  coin  money  and  regulate  the 
value  thereof."  Congress  has  established  a  mint  to  coin  mon- 
ey,  and  passed  laws  to  regulate  the  value  thereof.  The  money 
so  coined,  with  its  value  so  regulated,  and  such  foreign  coins  as 
Congress  may  adopt,  are  the  only  currency  known  to  the  con- 
stitution. But  if  they  have  other  power  to  regulate  the  cur- 
rency, it  was  conferred  to  be  exercised  themselves  and  not  to  be 
transferred  to  a  corporation.  If  the  bank  be  established  for  that 
purpose,  with  a  charter  unalterable,  without  its  consent,  Con- 
gress have  parted  with  their  powers  for  a  term  of  years,  during 
which  the  constitution  is  a  dead  letter.  It  is  neither  necessary 
nor  proper  to  transfer  its  legislative  powers  to  such  a  bank,  and 
therefore  unconstitutional. 

By  its  silence,  considered  in  connexion  with  the  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of  McCulloch  against  the  state 
of  Maryland,  this  act  takes  from  the  States  the  power  to  tax  a 
portion  of  the  banking  business  carried  on  within  their  limits,  in 
subversion  of  one  of  the  strongest  barriers  which  secured  them 


16 


VETO  MESSAGE 


against  federal  encroachment.  Banking,  like  farming,  manu- 
facturing, or  any  other  occupation  or  profession,  is  a  business, 
the  right  to  follow  which  is  not  originally  derived  from  the 
laws.  Every  citizen,  and  every  company  of  citizens  in  all  of 
our  States,  possessed  the  right  until  the  State  Legislatures  deem- 
ed it  good  policy  to  prohibit  private  banking  by  law.  If  the 
prohibitory  State  laws  were  now  repealed,  every  citizen  would 
again  possess  the  right.  The  state  banks  are  a  qualified  restora- 
tion of  the  right  which  lias  been  taken  away  by  the  laws  against 
banking,  guarded  by  such  provisions  and  limitations  as  in  the 
opinion  of  the  State  Legislatures,  the  public  interest  requires. 
These  corporations,  unless  there  be  an  exemption  in  their  char- 
ter, are,  like  private  bankers  and  banking  companies,  subject 
to  state  taxation.  The  manner  in  which  these  taxes  shall  be 
laid  depends  wholly  on  legislative  direction.  It  may  be  upon 
the  Bank,  upon  the  stock,  upon  the  profits,  or  in  any  other  mode 
which  the  sovereign  power  shall  will. 

Upon  the  formation  of  the  constitution,  the  states  guarded 
their  taxing  power  with  peculiar  jealousy.  They  surrendered 
it  only  as  it  regards  imports  and  exports.  In  relation  to  every 
other  object  within  their  jurisdiction,  whetner  persons,  property, 
business  or  professions,  it  was  secured  in  as  ample  a  manner  as 
it  was  before  possessed.  All  persons,  though  U.  S.  officers  are 
liable  to  a  poll  tax  by  the  states  within  which  they  reside ;  the 
lands  of  the  U.  S.  are  liable  to  the  usual  land  tax,  except  in  the 
new  states  from  whom  agreements  that  they  will  not  tax  un- 
sold lands,  are  exacted  when  they  are  admitted  into  the  Union  ; 
horses,  wagons,  any  beasts  or  vehicles,  tools  or  property,  be- 
longing to  private  citizens,  though  employed  in  the  service  of 
the  U.  S.,  are  subject  to  State  taxation.  Every  private  busi- 
ness, whether  it  be  mixed  with  public  concerns  or  not,  even  if 
it  be  carried  on  by  the  government  of  the  U.  S.  itself,  separately 
or  in  partnership,  falls  within  the  scope  of  the  taxing  power  of 
the  state.  Nothing  comes  more  fully  within  it  than  banks  and 
the  business  of  Banking,  by  whomsoever  instituted  or  carried 
on.  Over  this  whole  subject  matter,  it  is  just  as  absolute,  un- 
limited and  uncontrolable  as  if  the  Constitution  had  never  been 
adopted,  because  in  the  formation  of  that  instrument,  it  was  re- 


ON  THE  V.  S.  BANK. 


17 


served  without  qualification. 

Tho  principle  is  conceded  that  the  States  cannot  rightfully 
tax  the  operations  of  the  general  government.    They  cannot 
tax  the  money  of  tho  government  deposited  in  the  State  Banks, 
nor  the  agency  of  those  Banks  in  remitting  it ;  but  will  any 
man  maintain  that  the  mere  selection  to  perform  this  public  ser- 
vice for  the  general  government  would  exempt  the  state  banks 
and  their  ordinary  business  from  State  taxation.    Had  the  U. 
S.,  instead  of  establishing  a  bank  at  Philadelphia,  employed  a 
private  Banker  to  keep  and  transmit  their  funds,  would  it  have 
deprived  Pennsylvania  of  the  right  to  tax  his  bank  and  his  usual 
bank  operations  !  It  will  not  be  pretended.  Upon  what  principle 
then,are  the  banking  establishments  of  the  bank  of  the  U.  S.  and 
their  usual  banking  operations  to  be  exempted  from  taxation.  It 
is  not  their  public  agency  of  the  deposits  of  the  government  which 
the  state  claims  a  right  to  tax,  but  their  banks  and  their  banking 
powers,  instituted  and  exercised  within  state  jurisdiction  for 
their  private  emolument — those  powers  and  privileges  for  which 
they  pay  a  bonus  and  which  the  states  tax  in  their  own  Banks. 
The  exercise  of  these  powers  within  a  State,  no  matter  by 
whom,  or  under  what  authority,  whether  by  private  citizens  in 
their  original  right,  by  corporate  bodies  created  by  the  States, 
by  foreigners  or  the  agents  of  foreign  governments  located  with- 
in their  limits,fbrms  a  legitimate  object  of  state  taxation.  From 
this,  and  like  sources,  from  the  persons,  property/and  business, 
that  are  found  residing,  located  or  carried  on  under  their  juris- 
diction, must  the  states  since  the  surrender  of  the  right  to  raise 
a  revenue  from  imports  and  exports,  draw  all  the  money  ne- 
cessary for  the  support  of  their  governments  and  the  maintain- 
ance  of  their  independence.    There  is  no  more  appropriate  sub- 
ject of  taxation  than 'banks,  banking  and  banking  stocks,  tnd 
none  to  which  the  states  ought  more  pertinaciously  to  cling. 

It  cannot  be  necessary  to  the  character  of  the  bank,as  a  fiscal 
agent  of  the  government,  that  its  privato  business  should  be  ex- 
empted from  that  taxation  to  which  all  the  state  banks  are  lia- 
ble ;  nor  can  I  conceive  it  proper  that  the  substantive  and  most 
essential  powers  reserved  by  the  states  shall  be  thus  attacked 
and  annihilated  as  a  means  of  exectting  the  powers  delegated 


18 


VETO  MESSAGE 


to  the  general  government.  It  may  be  safely  assumed  that  none 
of  those  sages  who  had  an  agency  in  forming  or  adopting  our 
constitution  ever  imagined  that  any  portion  of  the  taxing  power 
of  the  states,  not  prohibited  to  them  nor  delegated  to  Congress, 
was  to  be  swept  away  and  annihilated  as  a  means  of  executing 
certain  powers  delegated  to  Congress. 

If  our  power  over  means  is  so  absolute  that  the  Supreme 
Court  will  not  call  in  question  the  constitutionality  of  an  act  of 
congress,  the  subject  of  which  is  "  not  prohibited,  and  is  really 
calculated  to  effect  any  of  the  objects  entrusted  to  the  govern- 
ment," although,  as  in  the  case  before  me,  it  takes  away  pow- 
ers expressly  granted  to  congress,  and  rights  scrupulously  re- 
served to  the  states,  it  becomes  us  to  proceed  in  our  legislation 
with  the  utmost  caution.  Though  not  directly,  our  own  pow- 
ers, and  the  rights  of  the  States  may  t  be  indirectly  legislated 
away  in  the  use  of  means  to  execute  substantive  powers.  We 
may  not  enact  that  congress  shall  not  have  the  power  of  exclu- 
sive legislation  over  the  District  of  Columbia,  but  we  may 
pledge  the  faith  of  the  U.  S.,  that,  as  a  means  of  executing  oth- 
er powers,  it  shall  not  be  exercised  for  20  years  or  forever.  We 
may  not  pass  an  act  prohibiting  the  states  to  tax  the  banking 
business  carried  on  within  their  limits,  but  we  may,  as  a  means 
of  executing  our  powers  over  other  subjects,  place  that  business 
in  the  hands  of  our  agents,  and  then  declare  it  exempt  from 
State  taxation,  in  their  hands. — Thus  may  our  powers  and  the 
rights  of  the  States,  which  we  cannot  directly  curtail,  or  invade, 
be  frittered  away  and  extinguished  in  the  use  of  means  employ- 
ed by  us  to  execute  other  powers.  That  a  bank  of  the  U.  S., 
competent  to  all  the  duties  which  may  be  required  by  the  gov- 
ernment, might  be  so  organized  as  not  to  infringe  on  our  own 
delegated  powers,  or  the  reserved  rights  of  the  states,  I  do  not 
entertain  a  doubt.  Had  the  executive  been  called  upon  to  fur- 
nish the  project  of  such  an  institution,  the  duty  would  have  been 
cheerfully  performed.  In  the  abscence  of  such  a  call,  it  was 
obviously  proper  that  he  should  confine  himself  to  pointing  out 
those  prominent  features  in  the  act  presented,  which,  in  his 
opinion,  make  it  incompatible  witk  the  constitution  and  sound 
policy.   A  general  discussion  will  now  take  place,  eliciting 


OK  Till.  I  .  s.  h  . 


10 


new  light  and  settling  important  principles ;  and  a  new  congress, 
elected  in  the  midst  of  such  discussion,  and  furnishing  an  equal 
representation  of  the  people,  according  to  the  last  census,  will 
bear  to  the  Capitol  the  verdict  of  public  opinion,  and  I  doubt 
not,  bring  the  important  question  to  a  satisfactory  result. 

Under  such  circumstances,  the  Bank  comes  forward  and  asks 
a  renewal  of  its  charter  for  a  term  of  15  years,  upon  conditions 
which  not  only  operate  as  a  gratuity  to  the  stockholders  of  many 
millions  of  dollars,  but  will  sanction  any  abuses,  and  legalize 
any  encroachments. 

Suspicions  are  entertained  and  charges  arc  made  of  gross 
abuse  and  violation  of  its  charter.  An  investigation  unwilling- 
ly conceded  and  so  restricted  in  time  as  necessarily  to  make  it 
incomplete  and  unsatisfactory,  discloses  enough  to  excite  suspi- 
cion and  alarm. 

In  the  practices  ol  the  principal  bank  partially  unveiled,  in 
the  absence  of  important  witnesses,  and  in  numerous  charges, 
confidently  made,  and  as  yet  wholly  uninvestigated,  there  was 
enough  to  induce  a  majority  of  the  committee  of  investigation,  a 
committee  which  was  selected  fi  um  the  most  able  and  honora- 
ble members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  to  recommend  a 
suspension  of  further  action  upon  the  bill,  and  a  prosecution  of 
the  enquiry.  As  the  charter  had  yet  four  years  to  run,  and  as  a 
renewal  now  was  not  necessary  to  the  successful  prosecution  of 
its  business,  it  was  to  have  been  expected  that  the  bank  itself, 
conscious  of  its  purity  and  proud  of  its  character,  would  have 
withdrawn  its  application  for  the  present,  and  demanded  the  se- 
verest scrutiny  into  all  its  transactions.  In  their  declining  todo 
so  there  seems  to  be  an  additional  reason  why  the  functionaries 
of  the  government  should  proceed  with  less  haste  and  more  cau- 
tion in  the  renewal  of  their  monopoly, 

The  bank  is  professedly  established  as  an  agent  of  the  Execu- 
tive branches  of  the  Government,  and  its  constitutionality  is 
maintained  on  that  ground.  Neither  upon  the  propriety  of  pres- 
ent action  nor  upon  the  provisions  of  this  a:t  was  the  Execu- 
tive consulted.  It  has  had  no  opportunity  to  say  (feat  i(  m  ,-her 
needs  nor  wants  an  agent  clothed  with  such  powers  and  favored 
bj  such  cxcmptions.^-Tucre  is  nothing  in  its  legitimate  func- 


20 


VETO  MESSAGE 


tions  which  make  it  necessary  or  proper.  Whatever  interest  or 
influence,  whether  public  or  private,  has  given  birth  to  this  act, 
it  cannot  be  found  either  in  the  wishes  or  necessities  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Department,  by  which  present  action  is  deemed  prema- 
ture, and  the  powers  conferred  upon  its  agent  not  only  unneces- 
sary, but  dangerous  to  the  government  and  country. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  rich  and  powerful  too  often  bend 
the  acts  of  government  to  their  selfish  purposes  ?  Distinctions 
in  society  will  always  exist  under  every  just  government- 
Equality  of  talents,  of  education,  or  of  wealth,  cannot  be  pro- 
duced by  human  institutions.  In  the  full  enjoyments  of  the  gifts 
of  Heaven,  and  the  fruits  of  a  superior  industry,  economy  and 
virtue,  every  man  is  equally  entitled  to  protection  by  law.  B  ut 
when  the  laws  undertake  to  add  to  these  natural  and  just  advan- 
tages, artificial  distinctions,  to  grant  titles,  gratuities  and  ex- 
clusive privileges,  to  make  the  rich  richer,  and  the  potent  more 
powerful,  the  humbler  members  of  society,  the  farmers,  me- 
chanics' and  laborers,  who  have  neither  the  time  nor  the  means 
of  securing  like  favors  to  themselves,  have  a  right  to  complain 
of  the  injustice  of  their  government. 

There  are  no  necessary  evils  in  government.  Its  evils  exist 
only  in  its  abuses.  If  it  would  confine  itself  to  equal  protection, 
and,  as  Heaven  does  its  rains,  shower  its  favors  alike  on  the 
high  and  the  low,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  it  would  be  an  unquali- 
fied blessing.  In  the  act  before  me,  there  seems  to  be  a  wide 
and  unnecessary  departure  from  those  just  principles.  Nor  is 
our  government  to  be  maintained,  or  our  union  preserved  by  in- 
vasions of  the  rights  and  powers  of  the  several  States.  In  thus 
attempting  to  make  our  general  government  strong,  we  make  it 
weak.  Its  true  strength  consists  in  leaving  individuals  and 
States,  as  much  as  possible,  to  themselves — in  making  itself  felt, 
not  in  its  power,  but  in  its  benificence,  not  in  its  control  but  in 
its  protection,  not  in  binding  the  states  more  closely  to  the  cen- 
tre, but  leaving  each  to  move  unobstructed  in  its  proper  orbit. 

Experience  should  teach  us  wisdom.  Most  of  the  troubles 
our  government  now  encounters  and  most  of  the  dangers  which 
impend  over  our  Union  have  sprung  from  an  abandonment  of 
the  legitimate  objects  of  government  by  our  national  legislation. 


OX  VllV.  V.  3.  BANK. 


ami  the  adoption  of  such  princples  as  arc  embodied  in  this  act. 
Many  of  our  rich  men  have  not  been  content  with  equal  protec- 
tion and  equal  benefits ;  but  have  besought  us  to  make  them 
richer  by  acts  of  Congress.  By  attempting  to  gratify  their  de- 
sires we  have  in  tho  results  of  our  legislation,  arrayed  section 
against  section,  interest  against  interest,  and  man  against  man, 
in  a  fearful  commotion  which  threatens  to  shake  the  foundation 
of  our  Union.  It  is  time  to  pause  in  our  career,  to  review  our 
principles,  and  if  possible,  revive  that  devoted  patriotism  and 
spirit  of  compromise  which  distinguished  the  sages  of  the  revo- 
lution and  the  fathers  of  our  Union.  Jf  we  cannot  at  once,  in 
justice  to  interests  vested  under  improvident  legislation,  make 
our  government  what  it  ought  to  be,  we  can  at  least  take  a 
stand  against  all  new  grants  of  monopolies,  and  exclusive  priv- 
ileges, against  any  prostitution  of  our  government,  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many,  and  in  favor  of 
compromise  and  gradual  reform  in  our  code  of  laws  and  system 
of  political  economy. 

I  have  now  done  my  duty  to  my  country.  If  sustained  by 
my  fellow-citizens  I  shall  be  grateful  and  happy ;  if  not,  I  shall 
find  in  the  motives  which  impel  me  ample  grounds  for  content- 
ment and  peace.  In  the  difficulties  which  surround  us,  and  the 
dangers  which  threaten  our  institutions,  there  is  cause  for  nei- 
ther dismay  nor  alarm.  For  relief  and  deliverance,  let  us  firmly 
rely  on  that  kind  providence,  wThich  I  am  sure,  watches  over  the 
peculiar  destinies  of  our  republic,  and  on  the  intelligence  of 
our  countrymen.  Through  His  abundant  goodness  and  their 
patriotic  devotion,  our  liberty  and  Union  will  be  preserved. 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 

Washington,  July  10,  1832. 


PLAIN  FACTS. 


The  U.  S.  Branch  Bank  at  the  city  of  New-York,  has  an  average  deposit  of 
revenue,  belonging  lo  the  People,  of  about  §3,000,000,  and  for  which  it  pays 
no  interest  or  tax.  Was  Ibis  deposit  put  in  the  market,  it  would  sell  from  3£  to 
5  per  cent,  as  our  canal  fund  sells,  and  would  be  worth  to  the  people,(say  at  an 
averege  value  of  4  percent.)  §120,000  per  annum— a  sum  of  great  moment  in 
relieving  our  "  hard  fisted  yeomanry"  from  taxation. 

The  three  branches  in  this  state,  (at  New-York,  Utica  and  Buffalo,)  employ 
a  capital  of  about  3£  millions  of  dollars;  and  while  the  people  are  taxed  on  ev- 
ery dollar  of  their  property,  and  on  their  professions  also,  and  our  local  banks 
on  their  capital,  these  branches  are  exempt  from  all  taxation !— Were  these 
branches  taxed,  the  people  would  be  relieved  in  their  taxes,  just  the  sum  that 
the  said  3£  millions  would  contribute.  Is  this  nothing?  Is  this  immunity  right 
and  just?  The  people  can  and  will  answer  this  question. 

State  Banks  are  taxed  upon  their  whole  capital.  That  capital  is  liable  to  be 
assessed  for  state,  county  and  all  local  expenditures.  Why  should  the  capital 
of  the  United  States  Bank  be  exempted? 

Suppose  the  several  taxes  assessed  upon  the  state  banks  amount  to  one  per  ct. 
upon  their  capital.  They  pay,  upon  that  supposition,  no  less  than  $5220,000 
annually,  towards  defraying  the  public  expenses.  Now  if  the  $3,500,000  capi- 
tal which  is  employed  in  the  U.  S.  Branch  Banks  at  New-York,  Utica  and  Buf- 
falo, contributed  in  the  ratio  with  the  State  Banks,  it  would  pay  $35,000  per 
annum,  and  the  people  would  be  relieved  just  the  same  amount. 

The  use  of  the  deposit  of  three  millions  has  been  shewn  to  be  worth  $120,- 
000  per  annum.  Add  to  this  the  §35,000  which  the  branches  ought  to  pay  for 
ordinary  taxes,and  we  find  the  round  income  of  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIF- 
TY-FIVE THOUSAND  DOLLARS  ANNUALLY.of  the  people's  money,  di- 
vided among  the  stockholders  of  a  Mamraouth  Bank,  nearly  one-third  of  whom 
are  foreign  Barons,  Lords  and  Nabobs. 

Our  state  banks  are  also  compelled  to  pay  one  half  of  one  percent,  per  an- 
num for  the  public  security.  This  sum  on  an  aggregate  capital  of  22,000,000 
dollars  is  $110,000  per  annum  contributed  to  the  Safety  Fund.  The  people  of 
this  state,  through  their  representatives,  have  very  properly  compelled  the  in- 
stitutions, in  which  are  vested  the  right  to  furnish  the  paper  circulating  medi- 
um of  the  state,  to  contribute  a  fund  for  the  certain  redemption  of  every  note 
issued.  Why  should  the  United  States  Bank,  in  addition  to  its  many  immuni- 
ties, be  exempted  from  guaranteeing  a  redemption  of  all  its  issues?  What  sccu- 


PL. VI  N  I  A  (  IS. 


rity  have  the  public  that  the  United  States  Hank  writ]  rodecm  lU  the  biil6,  noics 
and  checks  which  it  throws  cut  into  the  world?  Government  if  not  bound  to 
pay  one  dollar  for  such  a  purpose.  There  is  no  safety  fund.  The  directors  are 
notpersonally  responsible  for  such  a  redemption;  indeed  if  they  were,  it  would 
bo  an  inadequate  guarantee. 

What  security  then  have  the  people  that  the  United  Stales  Bank  can  or  will 
redeem  its  enormous  amount  of  notes  now  in  circulation, — 60  or  70  millions  of 
dollars?  It  may  be  that  the  bank  will  keep  its  credit  good  so  long  as  it  is  for  its 
interest  to  do  so,  but  how  much  longer  none  can  foretell.  Many  of  the  direc  - 
tors  are  but  nominal  stockholders,  and  of  course  are  but  slightly  interested  in 
the  welfare  or  failure  of  the  monopoly.  THE  PEOPLE  MUST  BE  A- 
WAKE  AND  ON  THEIR  GUARD,  or  an  evil  will  b< fall  them  which  will 
carry  penury ,  distress  and  wretchedness  into  every  quarter  of  the  Republic. 

Thanks  to  the  Roman  inflexibility  of  the  patriot  Jackson,  this  GOLDEN 
MONOPOLY,  so  powerful  and  oveireaching  in  its  childhood, — in  its  15th  year 
— has  been  checked  in  its  rapid  strides, and  will  soon  be  arrested  in  its  withering 
advances  towards  the  OVERTHROW  OF  THE  LIBERTIES  OF  THE 
AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 


From  the  Washington  Globe. 

THE  VETO  AND  THE  BANK. 

The  first  objection  made  by  the  President  to  the  act  re-chartc-ring  the  Bank  .»( 
the  U.  S.,  ought  of  itself  to  be  conclusive  in  a  country  of  equal  right.— He 
shows  conclusively,  so  orach  so  that  no  advocate  of  the  Bank  in  the  Senate  or 
out  of  it.  has  dared  to  deny  it,  that  the  act  would  have  operated  as  a  PRES- 
ENT, from  the  people  to  the  stockholders,  of  more  than  SEVEN  MILLIONS 
OF  DOLLARS  I 

But  what  apology  was  there  for  the  Congress  of  1332,  to  give  to  the  holders 
of  this  stock  seven  or  eight  millions  more  ?  Certainly,  those  who  had  by  fraud- 
ulent subscriptions  originally  monopolized  the  stock  and  the  bounty  of  the 
Government,  did  not  deserve"  to  be  rewarded  by  anew  gratuity.  Nor  is  there 
either  policy  or  justice  in  giving  to  the  foreigners,  who  own  $3,405,500  of  the 
6tock,  two  or  three  millions  at  the  expense  of  the  American  people.  Nor  is 
there  any  propriety  in  giving,  by  act  of  congress,  25  or  30  per  cent,  even  to  the 
honest  purchasers  "of  the  stock  among  our  own  citizens.  It  is  not  the  business 
of  Congress  to  make  presents,  at  the  expense  of  the  people.  As  justly  and  as 
properly  might  they  appropriate  seven  or  eight  millions  out  of  the  Treasury, 
giving  jach  stockholder  his  share  by  name.  What  would  be  the  language  of 
the  American  people  had  they  appropriated  that  sum  out  of  the  Treasury  to  a 
few  of  our  rich  citizens  who  have  fraudulently  monopolized  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  stock,  and  to  the  nobility  and  gentry  of"  the  British  Empire  ?  Would 
they  not  have  loudly  demanded  of  their  representatives,  why  it  was  that  they 
had  so  trilled  with  their  essential  interests  ? 

In  a  list  of  stockholders,  communicated  to  Congress  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  on  the  23d  January  last,  we  have  the  mimes  of  those  who  were  to 
receive  this  gratuity,  ami  the  number  of  shares  held  by  each.  We  select  a  few 
of  the  foreigners  for  the  information  of  the  people. 

"The  Right  Llonorablc  Sir  William  Alexander,  Knight,  fcc.  and  others, " 
owning  $5, 000,  would  have  received  at  least  $1,250,  not  of  the  royal,  but  of  the 
republic  in  bounty. 

•'  The  Ripht  Honorable  Sarah,  Countess  Downger  of  Castle  Stewart,'*  own- 
ing$l0,000  in  6tock,  would  have  received  $2,500. 

"  Most  Honorable  Francis  C.  S.  Conwnv.  Mnrqui9  of  HattT,"  owning  $100,- 
300,  would  have  received  at  least  $25,000  '! 


PLAIN  FACTS. 


•«  Right  Honorable  Lord  Henery  Visoount  Gage,"  owning  $19,000,  would 

have  received  §3,000. 

"  Rev.  George  Gordon,  D.  D.  Dean  of  Lincoln,"  owning  $31,000,  Would  have 

received  $7,772. 

"Sir  William  Keppel,  General  in  his  Brittanio  Majesty's  forces,  Knight 
Grand  Cross  of  the  Bath,  &c."  owning  $72,200,  would  have  received  $18,050  ! 

"  Sir  Marmeduke  Warren  Peacoke,  Lieutenant  General,  &c.  &o."  owning 
$50,000  would  have  received  $12,500. 

"Baring,  Brothers  &  Co.,"  one  of  whom  was  recently  selected  to  consti- 
tute a  member  of  a  Tory  Anti-reform  Cabinet,  in  England,  but  deterred  from 
accepting  by  the  overwhelming  power  of  public  opinion  in  favor  of  Reform, 
owning  $790,500  in  stock,  would  have  received  at  least  $197,875  of  our  repubii- 
can  bounty  !  / 

Is  it  right  for  Congress  to  legislate  money  at  this  rate,  not  only  into  the  pock- 
ets of  our  own  rich  citizens,  but  into  the  cqjlersof  the  enemies  of  Liberty  in  Great 

Britain  ? 

The  PEOPLE  of  the  U.  S.  can  have  no  inducement  to  sanction  acts  of  this 
kind  ;  but  this  may  not  be  the  case  with  some  of  their  members  of  Congress. 
Those  on  whom  such  favors  are  bestowed,  have  favors  to  give  in  return. 
Some  members  of  Congress  are  interested  indirectly,  if  not  directly,  in  the 
Stock  of  the  Bank.  Others  have  received  extensive  accommodations.  Others 
are  their  feed  lawyers — feed  to  at  a  most  extravagant  rate.  The  two  leaders 
of  the  Bank  phalanx  in  the  Senate,  were  Daniel  Webster  and  Henry  Clay. 

The  name  of  Daniel  Webster  appears  on  the  list  of  stockholders  ;  but  he  de- 
clared, in  his  speech  against  the  Veto,  that  he  held  no  stock,  having  probably 
transferred  it  after  the  Bank  applied  for  anew  charter,  lest  he  should  appear  to 
vote  for  giving  money  directly  to  himself.  But  Daniel  Webster's  chief  interest 
was  not  in  the  stock  which  he  held.  It  was  discovered  by  the  Committee  of 
Investigation  that  he  had  received  from  the  principal  Bank,  as  lawyer's  tees, 
upwards  of  $8,000.  What  he  has  received  from  the  branches  they  did  not  as- 
certain. In  one  case  disclosed  by  the  committee,  the  Bank  gave  him  one  hun- 
dred dollars  for  writing  eight  wards,  being  at  the  rate  of  twelve  dollars  and  fifty 
cents  per  word!  Had  not  Mr.  Webster  an  interest  in  a  vote  which  was  to  pre- 
serve such  a  valuable  climt  ? 

Mr.  Clay,  irr  1811,  voted  and  spoke  against  the  old  Bank  of  the  U.  S.  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  both  inexpedient  and  unconstitutional.  At  a  subsequent 
time,  having  sulfered  great  losses,  he  quitted  public  life  and  re-commenced  the 
practice  of  law.  He  was  employed  to  attend  to  all  the  law  business  of  the 
Branches  in  Kentucky  and  Ohio  ;  but  what  he  received  for  those  services,  has 
never  been  disclosed.  The  committee,  however,  ascertained,  that  he  had  re- 
ceived from  the  principal  Bank  "  for  professional  services"  upwards  of  $17,- 
000.  This  much  is  certain  ;  and  it  is  probable,  he  has  received  enough  from 
the  branches  to  make  it  THIRTY  THOUSAND  !  Had  Mr.  Clay  no  interest  in 
his  vote  for  this  Bank  ?— Had  he  not  a  motive  to  be  liberal  to  the  stockholders 
of  an  institution  which  had  been  so  liberal  to  him  ? 

But  he  had  another  interest.  The  Bank  has  undertaken  to  make  him  Presi- 
dent !  He  himself  avows,  that  the  object  of  the  Bank  in  coining  forward  now, 
was  to  ascertain  whether  Gen.  Jackson  would  consent  to  re-charter  it  or  not ; 
that  all  those  interested  might  go  against  him,  if  he  would  not,  in  the  coming 
election. — And  whom  will  they  go  for  if  they  go  against  Gen.  Jackson?  For 
the  opposing  candidate,  Mr.  Clay.  The  object  of  the  Bank,  therefore,  as  Mr. 
Clay  well  understood,  was  to  support  him  for  President  in  case  Gen.  Jackson 
refused  to  award  them  a  new  charter.  That  he  would  refuse  Clay  never  had 
a  doubt. 

Iu  voting  to  re-charter  the  bank,  therefore,  Mr.  Clay  had  both  a  pecuniary 
and  political  interest.  It  was  to  him  a  most  valuable  client,  and  it  had  resolved 
to  put  forth  all  its  money  and  power  to  make  him  President. 

In  these  interests  of  leading  men  in  Congress,  the  people  may  find  the  reason 
why  that  body  was  deluded  into  giving  to  the  titled  Aristocracy  in  England  and 
the  monied  aristocracy  of  America  seven  or  eight  millions  of  dollars.  They  will 
know  how  far  the  Bank  candidate  for  the  Presidency  deserved  the  support  of 
those  whose  interests  he  had  thus  endeavored  to  sacrifice  ;  and  they  will  duly 
appreciate  the  firmness  and  patriotism  of  that  man  who  dares  to  set  ajl  these 
corrupt  influences  at  defiance  and  rely  for  support  on  the  virtue  and  intelli- 
gence of  his  countrymen. 


Keinble  &  Hooper,  Printers,  Budget  Office,  Troy,  N.  Y. 


